1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a guide assembly for supporting a slidable object and more particularly to an anti-rattle guide assembly for supporting an object, such as an armrest, ashtray, door or drawer, which is slidable between extended and retracted positions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, slidable objects such as automobile ashtrays have been mounted to their support structures in a variety of ways. Typically, such objects are mounted to their support structures by some form of rail assembly. For example, Japanese Patent Document No. 62-174954 is directed to an assembly using a series of rails for guiding movement of a sliding mechanism.
If the object is allowed to move too freely with respect to its housing, the slide assembly is likely to rattle, particularly if the slide assembly is used in some form of vehicle. Various attempts have been made to eliminate this rattle problem. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,137, an anti-rattle tracking assembly having a pair of parallel spaced-apart rails and a series of flexible fingers are used to reduce rattling associated with relative motion between an ashtray and its housing. In other references, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,750, a track rail-ball guidance arrangement is used in attempting to reduce rattling. Similarly, in Japanese Patent Document No. 61-158535, a roller mechanism is used to assist in the movement of the sliding assembly.
The use of such roller/ball mechanisms have failed, however, to alleviate rattling problems, particularly in view of the fact that debris may severely impair the ability of the roller/ball mechanism to operate properly. Other attempts to eliminate rattling have also been made including minimizing the tolerance between the rails of the sliding assembly to thereby provide a tight fit between the sliding assembly and its housing. Such attempts, however, have failed to alleviate rattling problems in view of (1) the difficulty of providing such tight tolerance levels during the manufacturing process and (2) the likelihood that repeated use of such sliding mechanisms will ultimately loosen the guide structure, thereby causing the structure to rattle. Accordingly, currently available techniques for eliminating rattling in sliding assemblies continue to suffer from disadvantages and are therefore inadequate.